Buckle



A. l. STERNE.

BUCKLE.

APPLICATION FILED MAII. I9l I9I9.

1,340,303. Patented May 18, 1920.

[NVE NTOH.

@5MM www ATTORNEYS.

lALFRED zr. STERNE, 0F scARsDALE, NEW YORK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

PatenteaMay 1s, 1920.

YApplication led March 19, 1919. Serial No. 283,561.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it lmown that I, ALFRED J. STERNE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Scarsdale, in the county of Westchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Buckles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in buckles, and it is an object thereof to provide a buckle which will be simple'to manufacture, easy to assemble, reliable and eliicient in operation, and capable of use with straps of varying thicknesses; another object of the present invention is the provision of a buckle which when in use may be readily applied to the strap or belt with which it is to be used; and a still further object is the provision of a buckle in which the strap may be readily adjusted.

Briefly my invention comprises a buckle having a back or body member carrying a gripping member which coperates with a front member hinged to the bodyV member to hold a strap or belt in adjusted position when the front member is held in closed position by locking means which have been provided. The gripping member above mentioned is mounted at one end in an inclined cam slot formed in a turned over edge of the body member, the other end of the gripping member being mounted in a similar cam slot formed in a member secured to the body member near the opposite edge thereof,

Y means vbeing provided for automatically urging the gripping member toward the high end of the slot, thus insuring that-the grip- Vb ping member will always contact with the strap when the buckle is in use, and facilitating the maintenanceof the-strap in adjusted position. Y

Having thus briey outlined my invention, I will 4nowk proceed to a detailed description thereof; a specific though not necessarily a preferred embodiment of the invention being illustrated in the accompanying drawings, whereino Figure 1 shows in elevation my improved buckle Vapplied to a belt strap;

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction ofthev arrows; Y i

Fig. 3 is a plan view of my improved buckle removed from the belt lstrapof Fig. 1

on the line 4 4 of Fig.f2 looking in the direction ofthe arrows. Y

Fig. 5 is a section through Fig. 1 taken on-the line 5-5 looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 6 is a plan partly in section ofthe locking means.

i 1 designates what I shall tcrmabody member to which one end of a belt strap 2 is secured bypassing the same through a slot 3 cut in the end of the body member, folding over and securing in'place by snap fasteners 4. It will, be understood, of course, that instead of using the fasteners 4 the belt strap may be sewn in place.

The lower edge of the body` member, as

the buckle is viewed when in position on the body of the wearer, is bent over as shown in VFig. 5 to form two flanges 5 and v6, cut out portions having been provided for thereception ofrolled over lugs 7 onthe front member 8, which together with a pin 9 forms a hinge; for the last named member.

Adjacent the upper edge of the jbody member and i secured thereto by any suitable means, is a member 10, here shown provided witha reduced portion '11 set into a 'slot cut into the body member. This member 10is provided with a cam slot 12set atan angle inclining toward that end of the "buckle in` which the slot 3 already referred to is formed. This cam slot forms a bearing vfor one end of a pin 13 carrying. a gripping member 14, this pin passing through the gripping member, its .otherV en d having a earing in a cam slot formed inthe flange 5. It is to be understood, of course, that if or flange 6. In other words, the'ends of the gripping member do not project to the exterior of the buckle.

The upper edge of the body member 1. turned up to form a flange 15, which, as Vwill be observed from Fig. 5, beyond or outside the member 10, this fiange carrying the locking means, which holds the front mem- VYthe gripping member 14 are between the upper edge of the buckle and the opposite edge isi'. A.

ber 8 in the locked position shown in Fig. 1,

and which locking means I shall now `describe. j

A plate 16 is provided at the outer side of the flange 15, this plate carrying locking pins 17 secured thereto and passing through elongated longitudinal lslots 18 and 19 in the flange 15 and member 10 respectively. The locking pins -coperate with a pair 'of slots 20 formed in a ilange 21 of the front memberS, and if desired may act also inthe capacity of guides for movement of the plate 16 longitudinally of the flange 1-5 of the body member l.

Formed in the plate 16 is a longitudinal slot, the enlarged end 22 of which, when the plate'is swung to the dotted line .position of Fig. '6, may be slipped over the head 23 of a stud 24, mounted in lthe flange 15 of the body member. The head of the stud is set crosswise or the flange and forms a lock for the plate 16 when the latter is swung around to its normal position such as shown in full lines in Fig. 6, the slot in this plate being reduced `as designated at 25 to prevent removal olf lthe plate but permitting or 'the plate beingv reciprocated. longitudinally of the lange 15, for the purpose `of moving the locking pins 17 into and out or locking position lri'elative tol the slots 20 in the front member 8. Y Y f Secured to the lock plate 16, by Welding, soldering or Vother suitable means is a button 26, within which is a lcoil spring 27, one end of ywhich abuts the head 23 of the stud 24,

Y which spring acts to4 return the plate 1G to its extreme left hand position, as shown in Fig. llfor example, to maintain the locking pins 17in position to-lock the front member 8 in closed position. Y Y

In operation,` the belt strap with the buckle attached is placed about the body 'or the user, with the lfront ,meinberlin open position as shown vin Fig. 3. he gripping member 14 at this ,time is at thehigh end of its cam slots, being urged to and maintained in that position automatically by the action of a sprin 28. The free portio`n29 of the belt Vstrap 1s then laid upon thev gripping member 14 and the iii-ont member 8 closed and locked. The vbelt strap will then be maintained in position and may notbe loosened :except the front memberV 8 be openedagain to relieve the gripping action on the belt strap Vdue to the gripping member 1,4 and the-inside of thefroiitY member.

V Heweven'should itbede'sired to tighten the belt strap,this may be done very readily inasmuch as the tree end thereof may be ipulled to the right as viewed in l? ig. 1, the gripping member 14 traveling toward the lower endof itscam slots to relievethe friction on,y the strap. Inasmuch as this move- V ment of the gripping member increases the tensionof the spring 27, the gripping 'member Will 'snap back toward the high part or its cam `slots again iso soon as movement of the belt strap to the right has ceased, thus ellfectually .preventing loosening of the belt strap a'fter adjustment. In other words by Vthe exact details of construction of my bucproviding they gripping member with a spring normally urging the member to operative position, manual adjustment or 'this gripping member is unnecessary, the gripping or locking of the belt strap taking place automatically. Y Y

To'remove the belt strap, it is merely necessaryto unlock and open the front member of the buckle.

lf desired the buckle may be formed in one piece, omitting entirely vthe hinged front member 8; and in such case the edges of the buckle 'could be turned up to provide flanges o in which cam slots similar to the slot 1Q could be provided and nthe spring 27 could be retained to urge the gripping member to the Vupper part of the cam slots, the belt strap in such la construction being gripped between the gripping member and the underside of the flanged member.

lt will thus be seen that l have provided a buckle which is simple to manufacture, easy of assembly, efficient in operation and which may be used with belt straps 'of varying degrees of thickness Within arang'e likely to be met with inpra'ctice. It willbe obvious also that with my improved buckle a belt strap may readily be applied to the body of the user, adjusted thereon and removed therefrom.

It is to be understood that 1 aml not to be confined solely -to the use or my buckle with belt straps,nor that l am to be limited to Y,

ico

kle,v as there are many uses to which 'my buckle may be put, and there are many Achanges which maybe made in the details of its construction Within the spirit and scope n of my invention.

llVhat l claim is:

1. A buckle comprising in combination a body member, a front member hinged thereto, a gripping member between said. body member and said front member and coperating with the latter vfor gripping a strap, and means independent or the strap for automatically moving the gripping member into operative position.` f

2. A bucklecomprising incombination a gripping member for engaging a strap and inclined bearings for said 'gripping member which bearings fare located between opposite edges of said buckle and .wholly confined o within the buckle.

,3. A buckle comprising in combination a body member, a front .member hinged thereto, a grippingV member betweenv said body member and said front member'ior Vengaging a strap, and inclinedbea'rings fformi'ng body member, lone Iedge 'ofwheh 'is iturned 13o over to form two flanges, the inner flange being provided with a cam slot one side of which slot is closed by the outer flange, a gripping member, one end of which has a bearing in said cam slot, and means located between opposite edges of said body member and having a cam slot therein to form a bearing for the opposite end of said gripping member.

5. In a buckle, the combination of a body member having one edge thereof turned over to form two flanges, a front member having portions coperating with said flanges on the body member to form a hinge,

and a gripping member, one end of which has a bearing in a cam slot in the inner of said body flanges, and means located between opposed edges of said buckle for supporting the other end of said gripping member.

6. In a buckle, the combination of a body member, a gripping member sustained thereby which gripping member comprises a tubular member and a pin which passes through said tube and extends beyond the ends thereof, and bearings for each end of said pin, said bearings and said tubular member and pin being located between opposed edges of said buckle and wholly confined within the same.

7. A buckle comprising a body member, a Y

ating with said gripping member, a flange at one edge of said body member, a locking plate mounted thereon, means for preventing removal of the plate from said flange but permitting the said plate to be reciprocated, locking pins carried by said locking plate, and a member for supporting one end of said gripping member, and guiding the inner ends of said locking pins as the same are moved to position to lock and unlock said front member.

9. A buckle comprising a body member, a front member hinged thereto, a gripping member mounted on the body member and coperating with said front member to hold a strap in adjusted position, a flange on one edge of said body member, a lookin plate thereon and movable longitudinally t ereof, locking pins carried by said locking plate, a member carried by said flange preventing removal of said locking plate, and a flange on said front member having openings therein coperating with said locking pins when the said front member is in closed position, and a concealed spring mounted on said locking plate for maintaining said locking pins in operative relation to the openings in the flange of said front member, to maintain said member in closed and locked position.

l0. In a buckle, the combination of a body member, a gripping member comprising a tubular member and a pin passing therethrough and extending beyond the ends thereof, said gripping member being supported by said body member, and a front member hinged to said body member cooperating with said gripping member.

This specication signed this 17th day of March, A. D., 1919.

ALFRED J. STERNE. 

